America's Increasingly Worthless Medal of Freedom

President Obama recently awarded 16 Americans the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The award was created by President Kennedy to recognize those individuals who have made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Many of the recipients were questionable.

For example, the President awarded one medal to political ally & crony Bill Clinton. Is every president now going to award a Freedom Medal to cronies from their own Party? This is what 3rd world countries do. Another recipient was Oprah Winfrey. She donated thousands of dollars to Obama's re-election campaign and helped him raise millions thru private fundraisers.

An even more questionable recipient is former astronaut Sally Ride. The Obama Administration claims she advocated for science education and also gender equality in the classroom. This is false. Ms. Ride did little for boys education.  In an era where boys face discrimination from America's female chauvinist school system and are struggling academically compared with girls, Ms Ride created education programs oriented primarily or entirely toward girls.

For example, her Science Camps encouraged girls, but not boys, interests in science. According to Education Unlimited, the camps provide "girls {NOT BOYS] an opportunity to explore science, technology, and engineering through experiments and observations while staying on a university campus". Also, Sally Ride's Science festivals are aimed toward girls.  These Festivals are designed to create interest in pursuing careers in science & engineering. According to the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center, the Festivals are "events for 5th-8th grade girls, held on college campuses across the country." The festivals feature science games, experiments and workshops as well as guest speakers, food and music. The USAToday states the "Science festivals alone have reached more than 52,000 girls."   This certainly is NOT educational equality.

Perhaps the most appalling recipient was notorious feminist Gloria Steinem. This is a woman famous for advocating 'A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle'. She claims men need women but the reverse is NOT true. She also claims rape and violence are a result of the 'cult of masculinity'. Lastly,  in the 2008 Democratic Party primary, Steinem demanded voters select Hillary Clinton rather than Barack Obama as the Party's presidential candidate. She believed Hillary's redeeming qualification for office was that she was a woman (indeed a white woman just like herself). This is in fact the essence of Steinem. Her philosophy is that an individual's qualifications and characteristics are to be judged on the basis of their gender not their actions. To Steinem, gender is of paramount importance. Gloria Steinem is a narrow minded female chauvinist jackass - in otherwords she is a true feminist.

Another recipient was Daniel Inouye. He fought in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, survived the war and was later elected to the Hawaii Territorial House of Representatives, the United States House of Representatives, and ultimately the United States Senate.  This is the type of person in which the Medal of Freedom was intended - not a political crony, not a financial backer and certainly not a female chauvinist halfwit.

Awarding questionable individuals the Freedom Medal degrades the value of the honor thereby making the medallion increasingly worthless.